When to dig up calla lilies and how to store before planting

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Calla lilies are a rhizome plant with arrow-shaped leaves and beautiful flower cobs surrounded by white or multi-colored petals. We will tell you when to dig up calla lilies in the fall, and what to do so that the plant overwinters successfully.

Do I need to dig up garden calla lilies for the winter

In order for your favorite flowers to survive the winter cold and bloom beautifully next season, it is important to dig them up correctly and in time. The roots should be dug out from the first frost.

Some gardeners leave tubers and rhizomes in the soil for the winter, but this measure is more justified in the southern region. Although even in a mild winter, one cannot be 100% sure that the flower will overwinter in the ground without consequences. It is much safer and more efficient to harvest flower tubers for the winter. In addition, this approach allows timely detection of tubers affected by diseases. Cleaning itself is carried out in several stages.

Do not postpone digging the tubers, because the cold can cause the shoots to rot.

When to dig calla lilies from open ground in the fall

It is important to dig up the flower tubers on time so that wintering is successful. If you do this too early, during the growing season, there will be problems with the safety of the plant during the cold season. If, on the contrary, delay the timing, early frosts can destroy it.

To understand when to dig up calla lilies in the fall and how to store them, you should refer to their classification.

Tuberous varieties drop their leaves during the transition to a dormant state. Rhizome varieties, on the other hand, do not shed their foliage during the hibernation period. In general, their rest time does not have any pronounced features. Therefore, the first thing to do is to dig up the tuberous calla lilies because they are more sensitive to cold temperatures.

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Rhizome varieties of plants are able to cope with the largest frosts. At the same time, it is also not recommended to delay too much with their digging.

Another important factor is the growing region. In every region of our country, one or another weather condition is observed: somewhere the cold comes earlier, somewhere later and is not intense. Accordingly, in the southern regions, where the weather conditions are relatively mild, it is permissible to dig calla lilies already in the first ten days of October, while in the Moscow region and in the middle lane as a whole, this is allowed to be done from the second half of September.

In colder regions of the Russian Federation, the specified process should be started in early September.

As soon as small frosts begin, the flower perceives this as a signal to prepare for hibernation. His vegetation is coming to an end.

With the onset of the first cold weather, the dried foliage is cut off, leaving only 5 cm of cuttings. Excessive moisture can also have a negative effect, therefore plants should be protected from rain. To do this, it is enough to equip shelters made of slate or metal sheets with your own hands. The film used for greenhouses is also suitable.

As soon as all these activities are carried out, you can proceed to the direct excavation. To safely dig up the roots, excavate the plant on all sides at a distance of 30 cm from the stem. Then scoop up the soil with your hands and gently pull out the root system.

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Lunar calendar

Favorable days for planting calla lilies can be chosen according to the lunar calendar. In 2021, the following dates are indicated:

• in September - 8, 10, 11, 12, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30;
• in October - 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30.

How to store it correctly

Once you have collected the tubers and rhizomes, inspect all available material for damage, especially the presence of rot. It is not necessary to discard such tubers. They can be treated urgently. To do this, take a special tool with which the characteristic spots of rot are scraped off. Instead, an ordinary teaspoon will do.

Next, the plant must be laid out in a dry room to dry out. It is best to do this in the sun or in a dry, well-ventilated area. It is advisable to dry the roots on a wooden surface lined with cardboard or paper. Here they must spend at least a few hours, after which they should be treated with brilliant green or activated carbon, crushed into powder.

This preparation option is especially recommended if you need to disconnect children from the tubers. In no case should you cut them off with a knife. It is recommended to break them off. Be sure to treat the place where the baby has grown with brilliant green, and then wrap the tubers in a paper towel.

During the winter, planting material should be taken from time to time and examined for defects. Normally, they should not be. If the material is of a fairly high quality and does not have any traces of rot, the roots and tubers were prepared for harvesting and winter storage correctly.

If you are growing different varieties of calla lilies, you should label the tubers so they don't get confused in the spring when it's time to plant.

After preparation, the planting material is laid out in cardboard boxes and covered with a lid on top. The next step is to put these boxes in a dry and relatively cold place. Flowers are stored in this form starting in October. Later, at the end of March, the tubers can be taken out of storage so that they begin to gradually wake up from sleep.

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Necessary conditions for wintering a plant

It is important to determine from the outset how to store the available material prior to planting. A successful wintering depends on ensuring the correct indoor conditions. What to do:

1. Provide the temperature within the range from +5 to +10 ° С.
2. Monitor moisture readings regularly. There is no more effective measure to avoid rot and death of plants, like ensuring dryness in the room.
3. Provide good ventilation.
4. From time to time, inspect the available planting material in order to timely detect problem tubers and treat them.
5. If the rhizomes are stored in pots or substrate, the moisture level should be monitored.
6. The roots and leaves of tuberous varieties should be removed to prevent premature germination.
7. For successful wintering, it is also better to sprinkle the tubers with sand or peat so that they do not come into contact with each other.

Methods for storing a plant after digging up at home

To guarantee suitable conditions, summer residents store planting material in a cellar. If anything, it should be a dark and cold place. In turn, it should be quite dry, because dampness can critically affect the planting material. Dampness will contribute to the early germination of plants, they can begin to rot.

Inspection for rot and the presence of sprouts should be carried out at least 1 time per week.

To ensure suitable conditions for wintering, it is necessary to treat the surfaces in the cellar or basement with any disinfectant solution in the fall. To avoid damage to the skin of the hands, it is better to work with antimicrobial and antifungal agents with gloves. A good method of drying and decontamination is the use of a smoke bomb. But before that, you will need to remove the remnants of vegetables. The presence of fungus on the ceiling and walls is unacceptable.

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Sometimes a refrigerator is used to store calla lilies. This option can be considered for themselves by those who have relatively few tubers. They are laid out in cellophane packaging, wrapped before that in a newspaper.

But you need to understand that the planting material will be stored in the refrigerator for less time than in the basement. Tubers can be kept here for no longer than a couple of months. Accordingly, they will not live to see planting in the spring.

Place the roots in perforated plastic bags pre-filled with dry peat. Packages must be tightly coupled. You can store planting material in a closet, pantry or on a loggia. In this case, it is necessary to regularly check the general condition of the tubers.

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Drawers and boxes are also good options for keeping calla lilies at home. You can put a layer of peat on the bottom of the box, put tubers in it and press down. Sand or sawdust can be a great substitute for peat. The prepared tubers of the plant are laid out in boxes and placed under the bed or in the closet.

You can store calla lilies in this way for no more than 1 month. If you decide to use not peat, but sand as filler for the box, then it must be taken into account that it must be well dried.

A layer of sand is poured onto the bottom of the box. After it is placed on the tubers in 1 or 2 layers and covered with a bag. This technique has received good reviews. In addition, the condition of the tubers can be easily checked at any time.

Outcomes

1. The time to dig up calla lilies may vary, depending on the region and the variety of the plant.
2. Even if the winter is mild, it is not recommended to leave the tubers and rhizomes in the soil.
3. In addition to timely digging, it is also important to ensure proper storage conditions for planting material. It should be kept in a dry, dark and cool place.